A collection of invited articles from the 4th Asian Conference on Liquid Crystals (ACLC 2019)

Almost 30 years ago, the Editors and Editorial Board of Liquid Crystals took a decision to no longer publish complete conference proceedings, and in part to ensure that the overall quality of the journal would be maintained at the highest possible standards [1]. Subsequently, it was decided that the Journal would instead publish collections of invited articles from conferences of particular significance, and these have included the 22^nd International Liquid Crystal Conference (ILCC) held in 2008 in Jeju, Korea [2], the 24^th ILCC held in 2012 in Mainz, Germany [3], and the 27^th ILCC held in 2018 in Kyoto, Japan [4]. Here, and for the first time, we are delighted to be publishing a collection of invited articles from an Asian Conference on Liquid Crystals (ACLC).

The inaugural Asian Conference on Liquid Crystals (ACLC) was held at Fuji Calm in Japan in December 2012. Subsequent meetings held in Busan, South Korea (ACLC 2015) and at NCKU Tainan, Taiwan (ACLC 2017) established this biennial meeting as the largest conference devoted entirely to the science and technology of liquid crystals held in Asia. The 4th ACLC was held last year in Shenzhen, China (ACLC 2019). The General Chair of the meeting, Professor Xiao Wei Sun, and his Co-Chairs, Professors Yanjun Liu and Dan Luo, are to be congratulated on what proved to be a truly outstanding conference. The conference was held at the Min Wah International Conference Centre in Shenzhen and jointly organised by the China Liquid Crystal Society (CLCS) and the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). The meeting brought together academics and industrialists not only from Asia but from right around the world (Figure 1). This special issue should not be viewed as the conference proceedings but rather a collection of invited articles spanning the diverse range of topics discussed in Shenzhen that made the meeting so vibrant and successful. All the contributions to this special issue have been refereed to the same exacting standards as any other contribution to the Journal. The authors are drawn from some nine countries from around the world, and the topics covered range from the basic science of liquid crystals through to their diverse applications, and encompassing chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics and engineering.

Figure 1. Group photograph of the participants at ACLC 2019 held at the Ming Wah International Convention Centre in Shenzhen, China.

We hope that you will enjoy reading this diverse collection of invited articles that showcase so many different areas of our field, and that it might inspire you to participate in the next Asian Conference on Liquid Crystals.